The Family Reunion Dress becomes a holiday dress.

The notorious holiday dress; every year they come out with very fancy dresses most of which a two year old would rip off in two seconds. So, unlike last years dress, which was a bit too fancy, I decided to go with something more casual that could be worn comfortably all day. I present to you the Family Reunion Dress by Oliver+s.

This is the third garment I have made from Oliver +S and what I have found about Liesl's patterns is that, when followed precisely like a baking recipe, they turn out fantastic looking clothing. When I sewed on the last of the buttons in the back I thought to myself "I might as well have bought this dress in the store." If I had the time to sew garments like this I would put them up in my etsy shop all the time. Maybe in a year or two.

But back to the pattern... What I like most about these patterns is that not only are they easy to follow but they give you hints and sewing tips as well. She tells you just what you need to do to make a professional and fabulous looking garment. The most frequent tip and one that I high recommend not skipping ever is pressing the fabric when and where she says too. It really truly makes a difference.

Her patterns tend to run a little bigger, so this dress is 18-24 months. However, Sofia is a very petite 2 year old so she will be able to wear this dress well into the spring time.

You might think at 16 dollars a piece, these patterns are a bit too expensive, but I feel you get what yo pay for. And if you use tracing paper to copy the pattern size you need, you can reuse the pattern for many years as each pattern has multiple sizes. I intend to make Viola a matching dress in purple and green checkers for Christmas if I get  the time. It took me six weeks of interruptions (that's a mommy-specific time unit) to make this dress; I thinks that corresponds to about 3-4 normal-people hours, from tracing the pattern and cutting out all the pieces, to sewing on the buttons.

Lastly, although the directions are easy to follow, this dress is not for the beginning seamstress. The pin-tucks take a bit of practice and are the most time-consuming part. This is a "two scissor" pattern and unless you have a bit of experience sewing I would start with one of her "one scissor" patterns to get used to the way she instructs you to make the garment.

Overall I love these patterns and highly recommend you try one.